the use of the word “Allah”

Here is a news item from the STAR today.
(I have found that the New Straits Times is an unreliable news source, because their stories and pages can 'dissappear' from their site. Probably when the article is deemed 'sensitive')

Religious councils want to intervene in application.
KUALA LUMPUR: Two more parties are applying to be part of the Catholic Church’s application for a judicial review over the use of the word “Allah”.

The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) yesterday filed its application to intervene in the suit through Azra & Associates while the Kedah Islamic Religious Council (Maik) filed its application through the firm of Omayah, Nawal & Partners.

Other parties to the suit are the Islamic religious councils for the states of Penang, Terengganu, Perak and the Federal Territories as well as the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council, the sole non-Muslim intervener in the suit.

Among others, Mais and Maik are seeking to intervene on grounds that they were responsible for the administration of Islam and Islamic laws in the two states and to prevent any confusion that could threaten public peace and security or raise religious sensitivities.

While the dedication of these religious councils to the dignity of Islam is commendable, I can not but wonder if it is misplaced. There have been articles and letters in the Malaysian media pointing out that in the Middle-East, "Allah" is the name used for "God" by many communities, not just the Muslim community. Specifically, "Allah" is used by middle-Eastern Christians without causing even a blink of surprise by their Muslim neighbors.

If the use of "Allah" by Christians and Sikhs would be occasion for the downfall of Islam and mass apostacy, as our dear Malaysian politicians say (yes, I blame the politicians and not the religious authorities), then there would be mass conversions to Christianity in the Arab countries and to Sikhism in India. But as my friend Johan said - it is insulting to us Malays that you think we are so stupid as to be confused so easily.

The dedication of the religious councils would be better put into spreading truth among the ummah (that "Allah" is a word that pre-dates Islam, and is used by many communities) than to keeping the truth away from the ummah. We dont want Malaysians to become like "katak di bawah tempurung".